A burning roof is visible during the Norte Fire Friday, October 16, 2026, in San Juan Capistrano, California.
Jae C. Hong/AP
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Jae C. Hong/AP
A fast-moving fire fueled by high winds burned at least six homes in Southern California on Friday, engulfing expensive coastal properties and prompting thousands to evacuate.
Black smoke – visible from miles away – billowed over tennis courts and swimming pools as firefighters doused burning homes in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County. Some homeowners sprayed water on their property before heeding evacuation orders.
Two firefighters were taken to the hospital for heat-related injuries, authorities said. Authorities have not said how the fire, which spanned less than a square mile Friday evening, started.
“If those winds had been a little stronger, in a little different direction, it could have been a lot worse,” San Clemente Mayor Rick Loeffler said.
San Juan Capistrano City Council member Howard Hart said he and his wife doused their roof with water and moved propane tanks away from their home before evacuating Friday with a carry-on bag.
Laura Hart has not had to evacuate because of a fire in the more than five decades she has lived in the community, she said.
“It doesn’t usually happen to us, we usually see it on the news,” she said. “We always pray to God that it wasn’t us, but yes, it was today.”
The Norte Fire broke out in the coastal town of San Clemente and the wind blew it as far as San Juan Capistrano. An evacuation shelter was opened in each city. As of Friday evening, about 16,000 residents had been ordered to evacuate, said Fire Chief TJ McGovern of the Orange County Fire Authority.
It is one of several fires in the region affected by dry, hot gusts known as Santa Anas, which blow from the interior and towards the coast. The strongest winds were expected through Friday afternoon, but conditions increasing the fire danger were expected to last through Saturday evening, with a heat advisory in effect until 8 p.m. Saturday in coastal Orange County and San Diego County, the National Weather Service said.
Tens of thousands of people across the state are without power after their electricity was cut off. Another fire at Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton closed a section of Interstate 5, a major artery connecting Orange County to San Diego, for hours. This added hours to travel throughout Southern California.
Coastal towns are surrounded by hillsides. San Juan Capistrano, a town of 35,000, is known for its equestrian trails and historic Mission San Juan Capistrano. San Clemente, home to 62,000 residents, is known as a “Spanish village by the sea” and popular with swimmers and surfers.
“The fire is right in the heart of the city,” said San Clemente City Council member Victor Cabral. “It’s on the perimeter of our homes on the north end.”
Nine schools were also closed Friday in San Juan Capistrano, the Capistrano Unified School District said.
Nearby residents were also nervous as smoke obscured the sky.
Wyoming resident Shannon Needham was visiting her mother at her assisted living facility in Dana Point, just north of San Clemente, when she learned of the fire.
The facility manager told him two buses would be on standby in case they had to evacuate, Needham said.
“You could hear the fire trucks and the helicopters and everything going on above. And it was so smoky, it was just black smoke,” Needham said.
Some of California’s worst wildfires have been started by electrical equipment, and in recent years, utilities have begun proactively shutting off power during dry winds. More than 118,000 customers in California were without power Friday, according to poweroutage.com.
The weather service also issued a red flag warning for parts of central and northern California through Friday morning, saying any fires would spread quickly.
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